[Investigation of factors affecting psychological depression in child-rearing mothers]

Child-rearing mothers (n = 1,459) were surveyed by questionnaire in regard to their feeling psychologically depressed and for prevalence of some conditions in their life frequently referred to as affecting factors that may be rated to the depression. A working scale of depression for this research was developed through a Multi Dimensional Scaling Procedure. Crobach's alpha of this scale was as large as 0.77 and correlational coefficients of this scale between each question were greater than 0.46 and less than 0.70. This scale was considered sufficient for the purpose of this research to obtain depressive scores. Coefficients in multiple regression analysis predictive for depressive score were obtained. Correlations were also calculated between depressive score and the factors stratifying by mothers' demographic factors. Out of a total 21.6 coefficients only 14 were greater than 0.30 and no factor showed coefficients greater than 0.80 through all the stratifications. None of the factors analyzed in this study appear to satisfactorily explain psychological depression. Therefore further search for real factors that affect the psychological depression in child-rearing mothers is required.